Legends
Maxwell and more: From Barcelona to Ligue 1
A quiet legend
Maxwell, born Maxwell Scherrer Cabelino Andrade, retired as a player in 2017 after five seasons in Paris, winning the title in all but the last of these. In his career, he would win 11 league titles in total, as well as the UEFA Champions League while playing with Barça in 2011. Never the flashiest player, his success at club level wasn't reflected in similar fashion with his country, but he nevertheless offered a reliable and technically sound presence. Now PSG's assistant sporting director, he served as a reliable lynchpin in a Lusophone defence alongside David Luiz, Marquinhos and Alex, helping the capital side build in impressive fashion.
Superstars in the capital
The most famous players to have made this trip, of course, are of a more recent vintage, in the form of Neymar, who joined PSG for a world record €222M fee in 2017, and Lionel Messi, who followed in 2021. The former played for the capital side for six seasons, winning the title in five of these, notching up 130 goal involvements in that time, despite struggling with injury. Messi's statistics in his two seasons were less impressive, but the excitement of having the world's best player in Ligue 1 was palpable, with the pair lining up alongside Kylian Mbappé in a formidable attack.
More recently, Jean-Clair Todibo had moved from Toulouse FC to Barcelona as a youngster before returning to Ligue 1 with OGC Nice, helping Les Aiglons have one of the league's best defences alongside Dante and winning his first caps for France. Last summer, another French international joined the capital side from Barça, in the form of Ousmane Dembélé, who had got his start at Stade Rennais and then Borussia Dortmund before heading to the La Liga side.
A winding road
These are, of course, just the players who went directly from the Blaugrana to Ligue 1 -- other players to have pulled on the Catalans' famous shirt and to have later made their name in France include the legendary Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He played just one season at the Nou Camp, helping his side win the La Liga title, but experienced far greater success in Paris, scoring more than 150 goals and winning the Ligue 1 title in each of his four campaigns.
Other famous names to have proverbially crossed the Pyrenees include Samuel Umtiti, who made his name at Lyon before leaving to join Barça in 2016, winning the World Cup with France while with the team, and Ludovic Giuly, who came through at Lyon and AS Monaco before making a move to the French capital after a season with AS Roma, as well as PSG's current reserve goalkeeper, Arnau Tenas.
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